Iliana Mirtschewa
Sofia University “St. Kl. Ohridski”
STEM reveals rich opportunities for children’s development through the integration of knowledge from various fields and through the spillover of experience from the field of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. At the same time, some problems arise in the process of early STEM education. They could call into question the effectiveness of training and repel children from STEM from their early age.
1. Destruction of the unity of STEM
One of the problems is the destruction of the unity of STEM. Studies have shown that „some educators regard STEM as any of the individual STEM disciplines” (Moomaw, 2013, p. 1). This desrupts the overall picture that children receive of the world.
Children experience the world as a whole. Early childhood educational experiences should not force that whole into pieces. This would give children a better base for life, where the problems are not isolated and separated in individual areas, but in most cases they are complex. Knowing the interrelationships set in a phenomenon will prepare the child to find connections and relationships between things and to act multifunctionally.
2. Different interpretations of early STEM education
In some cases, early STEM education is associated with distant and abstract topics for children.
Such an approach is not appropriate. STEM education should focus on materials, situations and experiences that are important and meaningful for young children (Moomaw, 2013).
Early STEM education does not require laboratories or large experiments. It is enough to follow the children’s questions and to develop children's STEM conceptions based on life situations. At the same time, care must be taken not to repeat what children already know, because this would cause them to lose interest in STEM topics.
The Importance of Being Aware of Potential Problems in Early Childhood STEM Education
3. Teacher centered instruction is given priority
But the STEM idea is different, because "the teacher is more of a facilitator allowing students to be active learners making sense of the activities for themselves" (Anderson, 2002, p. VIII).
Kindergarten should not become a school. This would distract children from the desire to make discoveries in STEM and become future researchers in the world.
When the themes and situations are related to the children’s experience, to their life world, it is much easier for them to enter the task, they more skillfully discover the characteristics of a phenomenon, guided by their experiences and impressions of the world around them. Of great importance here is the teacher's ability to capture children’s issues, to put them at the center of the study, and skillfully guide children to enrich their experience.
4. In some cases only worksheets and books are used to fill in and perform various math or science related tasks. In these cases,
5. it is believed that children will memorize new information and repeat what they have learned.
Parts of STEM are "understood to be learned most effectively by rote memorization, book-based, classroom settings" (McClure, 2017, p. 53). STEM has another role and provides other opportunities. "STEM education is most effective when a child is taught to think and act as a scientist, mathematician, inventor, or engineer" (Aaron & Valle, 2016, p. 3).
Putting the emphasis on memorizing "hollow knowledge" does not lead to understanding.
Children cannot understand the phenomena and the existing relationships. STEM has another role and provides other opportunities. The main activities are focused on "curiosity and wonder, investigation / adventures, exploration / explorations, think time, dream time, hypothesis time (Bardige/Russel, 2014, p. 10). Inquiry should be a guiding force in STEM learning.
6. The assessment focuses only on the final product of the activity, without paying attention to the process.
This is seen as "hindrances to effective inquiry" (Jeanpierre, 2018, p. 155).
In STEM education, children should be discoverers, should think, analyze and clearly express their conceptions, step by step to discover the phenomena. The learning process is very important.
7. In many cases, emphasis is placed only on the fun side of STEM
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without paying attention to the content side. This option also does not lead to efficiency in education as it does not provide enough opportunities to enrich the knowledge and the experience of the children.
STEM is a great opportunity to support children's development. “Adults model genuine, ongoing interest in the world, often asking questions about why and how. They help children define a problem they might solve, think about the goal, and encourage them to persist when design fail.
They provoke, challenge, and extend children's curiosity, interest, and thinking. They expose children to memorable, sustained and relevant experiences, using carefully selected materials and phenomena that help children make sense of the world." (Early STEM…, 2017, p. 13)
8. The little time spent on STEM activities
This problem is highlighted in some studies (Aaron & Valle, 2016; Jeanpierre, 2018). The lack of sufficient time does not allow the content to be expanded, children to dive into the topic and conduct their own research through experiments and games. The time is also not enough to discuss and to answer children's questions.
9. The interpretation of the role of the teacher in the learning process.
On the one hand, emphasis is placed on teacher centered education, which is not very effective.
Another extreme is that children do not need a teacher and need to explore the world on their own.
The teacher plays a significant role and builds the skeleton of STEM training. "This scaffold an experience, adults can provide assistance by giving, prompting, questioning, modeling, discussing, and telling. By observing what children are doing and then asking questions and working with them as they develop their own understanding of the world, adults can help them walk through increasingly complex ways of thinking." (National Center…, 2019) There must be a balance. „Scaffolding is a balance. If we don’t offer enough help, the child can struggle and become frustrated and give up. But if we offer too much help, the child is missing out on an opportunity to stretch his learning. And sometimes, it is best for a child to explore with no scaffolding at all. To find the “just right” spot, we have to pay attention to what the child is doing to decide how much support to offer.“ (National Center…, 2019)
10. Problems in training are often created by existing standards.
Sometimes early childhood educators are pressured to get children ready for school, ready to succeed in school, and ready to perform well on tests of academic skills (Katz, 2010). All of these goals and outcomes are often cited as the end product or outcomes of the curriculum "delivered"
The Importance of Being Aware of Potential Problems in Early Childhood STEM Education to young children. Lilian Katz (2010, p. 5) believes that "curriculum, cannot be delivered; it must be provided “.
Rather than "delivering" education, we are most likely to help children by "providing" experiences known to benefit young children (Katz 2010).
11. The attitude of society towards STEM can also be mentioned as a problem Studies show that many parents, even teachers, believe that STEM education is only suitable for gifted children (Arnon & Hanuscin, 2018; McClure, 2017) that it is more important for boys who show greater talent than girls (McClure, 2017) and that it is suitable for old children (McClure, 2017).
These adult attitudes about STEM can also be passed on to children.
These problems could affect the effectiveness of early STEM education. They can hinder the development of spontaneous interest that children develop towards these areas of knowledge and the realization of the necessary preparation of the children for life. These problems can be overcome by selecting appropriate teacher training activities for working with teachers and parents.
This is one of the goals of the PARENTSTEM project.
References
Aaron, D. I.. & N. Z. Valle (2016): Inspiring STEM Minds. Biographies and Activities for Elementary Classroom. Rotherdam/Boston/Taipei: Sense Publishers.
Anderson, A. (2002): Reforming Science Teaching: What research says about inquiry. In: Journal of Science Teacher Education, 13(1), 1-12.
Arnon, K. & Hanuscin, D,. (2018). An Exploratory ross-sectional Survey Study of Elementary Teachers’ Conceptians and Methods of STEM Integration. In: Journal of Research in STEM Education. Vol. 4, N 2, December 2018, (159-178).
Bardige, K. & M. Russel. (2014). Collections: A STEM-Focused Curriculum. Implementation Guide.
Heritage Museums &Gardens Inc.
Early STEM Matters. Providing High-Quality STEM Experiences for All Young Learners. A Policy Report by the Early Childhood STEM Working Group, (2017, January).
<http://ecstem.uchicago.edu>, (visited on 13 of February).
Jeanpierre, B. (2018). Inquiry Beliefs and Practices in an Urban Low SES Elementary Classroom: A Case Study. In: Journal Research in STEM Education, Vol. 4 N 2, December 2018, (146-158).
Katz, L. (2010). STEM in the Early Years. In: ECRP, Vol. 12, N 2.
<http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/beyond/seed/katz.html> (visited on 8th of February).
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McClure, E. (2017). STEM starts early. Grounding science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education in early childhood. New American & The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop.
Moomaw, S., (Ed.) (2013). Teaching STEM in the Early Years. St. Paul: Redleaf Press.
National Center on Early Childhood Development, teaching and Learning. Understanding STEM and how Children use it. <https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/steam-ipdf.pdf>, (visited on 8th of February).
Pasnik, S.& N. Hupert. (2016). Early STEM Learning and the Roles of Technologies. Walthman, MA: Education Development Center, Inc.Lee, J. (2016). Early Learning and Educational
Technology Policy Brief. Office of Educational Technology, US Department of Education.
STEM Education is for Everyone and a Gender Equality Perspective has to be Included from the Early Years